ISTANBUL: A well-known Turkish journalist was released from prison Friday despite being convicted of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, her lawyer said.
Sedef Kabas was sentenced to two years and four months at the first hearing in Istanbul but was released after spending nearly seven weeks in prison. She is expected to appeal her conviction.
The case highlighted the use of a law under which tens of thousands of people have been prosecuted since Erdogan became president in 2014 following more than a decade as prime minister. The offense carries a maximum four-year prison term.
The journalist, who has hosted a series of high-profile TV shows over a career spanning three decades, was arrested after she cited a proverb on television and social media referring to an ox.
Turkey has come under international pressure to change the insult law. In October, the European Court of Human Rights said a man’s freedom of expression was violated when he was detained in 2017 under the insult law.
Turkish journalist convicted but freed over Erdogan insult
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Turkish journalist convicted but freed over Erdogan insult
- Sedef Kabas was sentenced to two years and four months at the first hearing in Istanbul but was released after spending nearly seven weeks in prison
Trump says journalist Austin Tice has not been seen in many years
- The US journalist was abducted in Syria in 2012 while reporting in Damascus on the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE: US President Donald Trump said on Friday that American journalist Austin Tice, captured in Syria more than 12 years ago, has not been seen in years.
Trump was asked if he brought up Tice when he met with Syria’s new President Ahmed Al-Sharaa during a visit to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
“I always talk about Austin Tice. Now you know Austin Tice hasn’t been seen in many, many years,” Trump replied. “He’s got a great mother who’s just working so hard to find her boy. So I understand it, but Austin has not been seen in many, many years.”
Tice, a former US Marine and a freelance journalist, was 31 when he was abducted in August 2012 while reporting in Damascus on the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad, who was ousted by Syrian rebels who seized the capital Damascus in December. Syria had denied he was being held.
US officials pressed for Tice’s release after the government fell. Former President Joe Biden said at the time he believed Tice was alive.
Russia deliberately hit journalists’ hotels in Ukraine: NGOs
- The hotels hit were mostly located near the front lines, the organizations said
- At least 15 of the strikes were carried out with high-precision Iskander 9K720 missiles
PARIS: Russia has deliberately targeted hotels used by journalists covering its war on Ukraine, the NGOs Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and Truth Hounds said on Friday, calling the strikes “war crimes.”
At least 31 Russian strikes hit 25 hotels from the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 to mid-March 2025, the two organizations said in a report.
One attack in August 2024 in the eastern city of Kramatorsk killed a safety adviser working with international news agency Reuters, Ryan Evans.
The hotels hit were mostly located near the front lines, the organizations said.
Just one was being used for military purposes.
“The others housed civilians, including journalists,” said RSF and Truth Hounds, a Ukrainian organization founded to document war crimes in the country.
“In total, 25 journalists and media professionals have found themselves under these hotel bombings, and at least seven have been injured,” they said.
At least 15 of the strikes were carried out with high-precision Iskander 9K720 missiles, they said, condemning “methodical and coordinated targeting.”
“The Russian strikes against hotels hosting journalists in Ukraine are neither accidental nor random,” Pauline Maufrais, RSF regional officer for Ukraine, said in a statement.
“These attacks are part of a larger strategy to sow terror and seek to reduce coverage of the war. By targeting civilian infrastructure, they violate international humanitarian law and constitute war crimes.”
RSF says 13 journalists have been killed covering Russia’s invasion, 12 of them on Ukrainian territory.
That includes AFP video journalist Arman Soldin, who was killed in a rocket attack near the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakmut on May 9, 2023. He was 32.
Omnicom Media Group consolidates influencer marketing services in Mideast
DUBAI: Omnicom Media Group has announced that it will consolidate its influencer marketing capabilities in the Middle East and North Africa region under influencer management agency Creo following a global directive last month.
The move “ensures our clients can harness the full potential of this communication channel” as digital consumption grows in the region and influencers play an “instrumental role in shaping brand perceptions,” said CEO Elda Choucair.
Creo will give the group’s clients “access to the same advanced tools, talent and technology we’ve developed globally, but adapted to our region’s unique landscape,” she added.
These include tools such as the Creo Influencer Agent, an AI-powered influencer selection tool; the Omni Creator Performance Predictor, which uses machine learning to predict the performance of content on Instagram; and the Creator Briefing Tool, which helps influencers create and get feedback on their content through Google’s AI chatbot Gemini.
The agency will also leverage exclusive partnerships with platforms such as Amazon, TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat in the region.
Anthony Nghayoui, head of social and influencer at Omnicom Media Group, has been appointed to lead Creo.
Aramco holds steady on Kantar’s most-valuable global brands list for 2025
- US brands dominate, comprising 82 percent of the value in top 100
DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s Aramco continues to hold a place in the annual BrandZ Most Valuable Global Brands Report 2025 by marketing data and analytics company Kantar.
Although it dropped by eight places to No. 22, Aramco is the only brand from the Middle East to have a presence in the global ranking.
US brands dominate the list, comprising 82 percent of the total value of the top 100 brands.
However, the report signals changing times, with Chinese brands having doubled their value over the past 20 years, now making up 6 percent of the value of the top 100 brands.
European brands, on the other hand, have seen a decline. They now account for 7 percent — down from 26 percent in 2006 — of the top 100 brands.
The top five spots are taken by tech companies Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Nvidia.
“Innovators keeping up with consumer needs or redefining them entirely are the brands fundamentally reshaping the Global Top 100 over the past two decades,” said Martin Guerrieria, head of Kantar BrandZ.
The most successful brands, like Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft, have long moved away from their original product base, he added.
Apple retained its top position for the fourth year in a row with a brand value of $1.3 trillion, up 28 percent from 2024.
Google and Microsoft recorded a 25 percent and 24 percent increase in brand value this year compared to last year, while Amazon’s brand value rose by a massive 50 percent.
ChatGPT debuted on the list this year in 60th place, showing “how a brand can find fame and influence society to the extent that it changes our daily lives,” Guerrieria said.
He cautioned that as competition grows in the AI space, “OpenAI will need to invest in its brand to preserve its first-mover momentum.”
Despite controversies and concerns, Instagram and Meta saw significant growths of 101 percent and 80 percent, respectively, while TikTok grew by a modest 25 percent.
The success of brands like Apple and Instagram “underlines the power of a consistent brand experience that people can relate to and remember,” said Guerrieria.
He added: “In a world of digital saturation and tough consumer expectations, brands need to meet people’s needs, connect with them emotionally and offer something others don’t to succeed. They need to be not just different, but meaningfully so.”
UK to allow foreign states to own a 15 percent stake in newspapers
- Proposed media reforms could resolve the long-standing uncertainty surrounding the ownership of the Telegraph newspaper
- In 2023, Abu Dhabi-backed RedBird IMI assumed control of the Telegraph titles and The Spectator by helping repay the Barclay family’s £1.2 billion debt
LONDON: Britain plans to allow foreign state-owned investors to own up to 15 percent of British newspaper publishers, the government said on Thursday, as part of media reforms that could end long-running uncertainty over ownership of the Telegraph newspaper.
The government will also expand its powers to scrutinize media mergers to include news websites and news magazines.
“These important, modernizing reforms are about protecting media plurality and reflect the changing ways in which people are consuming news,” Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said.
“We are fully upholding the need to safeguard our news media from foreign state control whilst recognizing that news organizations must be able to raise vital funding.”
The ownership of the Telegraph, one of Britain’s best known newspapers, has raised questions about the independence of the media and foreign states buying political influence.
The government said “targeted exceptions” allowing certain sovereign wealth funds or pension funds to invest up to 15 percent in British newspaper and periodicals would help sustain the titles while also limiting any foreign influence in media.
The government does not plan to exempt debt financing, but warned that if a foreign power gains control through a default, it could trigger a ministerial intervention under existing rules.
Britain’s previous Conservative government last year banned foreign state investment in British newspapers, blocking RedBird IMI, run by former CNN boss Jeff Zucker and with the majority of its funding from Abu Dhabi, from owning the Telegraph.
Abu Dhabi-backed RedBird IMI took control of the Telegraph titles and the Spectator magazine in 2023 when it helped repay the Barclay family’s 1.2 billion pound ($1.6 billion) debt to Lloyds Bank.
It put the titles up for sale nearly a year ago. The Spectator was sold to hedge fund founder Paul Marshall in September, but the Telegraph has not found a buyer.
The 15 percent cap would allow Abu Dhabi to retain some ownership of the paper.
